This invention relates to a full-wave rectifying circuit which can be readily provided in the form of a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly to an improvement of a conventional full-wave rectifier circuit.
A conventional full-wave rectifier circuit is as shown in FIG. 1. A sine wave signal is applied through a terminal 1 to an amplifier 2, the output of which is applied through a capacitor 8 to a diode 10, so that positive half-cycles of the signal are outputted. On the other hand, the sine wave signal is applied through an inverter 3 and a capacitor 9 to another diode 11, where it is rectified, so that negative half-cycles of the signal are outputted. These two outputs are combined together, thus providing a full-wave rectification output which is smoothed by a smoothing capacitor 13 connected to an output terminal 12.
In the full-wave rectifier circuit, the capacitors 8 and 9 are used to remove DC components. However, it should be noted that it is difficult to integrate the capacitors 8 and 9 in a semiconductor integrated circuit, and accordingly it is necessary to externally connect the capacitors 8 and 9 to the semiconductor integrated circuit. In order to connect the capacitors 8 and 9 to a package including the semiconductor integrated circuit, it is necessary to provide four terminal pins 4 through 7 as shown in FIG. 1. This is not desirable for forming a semiconductor integrated circuit and increases the number of components.